The Dam Busters

by Richard Fernandez, Pajamas Media Sydney Editor

It should have been fiction but it was fact. Sixty-four years ago today a handpicked squadron of RAF pilots, led by a dashing young war hero took off on a mission to flood out Hitler’s war machine by destroying the dams which supplied hydroelectric power to the Ruhr….

The Silencing

By Martin Solomon

[Illustration from All Things Beautiful]

Your taxpayer education dollars at work: Reut Cohen blogs the “clown show” at the University of California Irvine Muslim Student Union’s “Anti-Israel” Week.

Zimbabwe's Despair: Zimpundit describes events in Zimbabwe at Global Voices, a tale of increasing misery in a country that everyone — including some of its own citizens — seems to have written off.

Clueless in Gaza: Glenn Reynolds notes that the media is finally using the “civil war” word in connection with the situation in Gaza. Ironic headline of the day from the LA Times: “Factional fighting in Gaza imperils unity government”

Baqubah: Stryker Brigade News describes the ongoing process of clearing insurgents out of Baqubah.

The Pentagon of Cyberspace: LVB.Net says Google announced it will build a new data center in near Mons in Belgium with a surface of 210 acres close to a river, for cooling purposes. It will cut query response times to Europe by a few milliseconds.

Bush Gets the "Full Nixon" (continued): Shrinkwrapped looks at MSM psychoanalysis of George Bush.

Heads You Lose, Tails I Win: The Mudville Gazette notes that retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton who recommended a surge of troops last year is now angry that additional troops are being sent to Iraq.

No Surprise: “The international community, Israel and Arab countries are to blame for the current inter-Palestinian fighting in the Gaza Strip for failing to lift an economic siege on the Palestinians, a senior Hamas official said Wednesday,” according to the Jerusalem Post.

TUSK Upgrades for Tanks in Iraq: It costs 400,000 dollars, takes only twelve hours to install but took two years to reach the battlefield. (Strategy Page)

"Daddy, I have four toys in my Happy Meal!:" Happy Meal Sold With Pot, Pipe and Lighter. (Fox)

House Republicans Stop Rules Change: House Republicans stopped an attempted rules change by Democrats today that would have stripped them of their right to call for a Motion to Recommit and changed germaneness rules that have remained the same since 1822. Congressman Eric Cantor’s blog, “Bottom line - the Democrats are preventing their Members from having to vote on the tax increases that they are trying to impose on the American People.” Power Line has a brief wrap-up, with more detail on the procedural aspects of the attempted change from Jonah Goldberg @ The Corner.

Would You Pay $50 For a Cup of Coffee Made From Cat Poop? Australians do.

Another Break in the Wall: Amazon will be launching an online music store later this year, which will only sell unprotected, DRM-free MP3s. (TechCrunch)

Wolfowitz to Resign This Afternoon? World Bank officials say the bank’s board will accept Wolfowitz’s resignation but will also acknowledge that the World Bank’s Ethics Committee bears “some responsibility” for giving him bad advice on the issue of his girlfriend. (ABC News’ The Blotter)

Closing In: U.S. and Iraqi security forces, backed by the local tribes in Karbala and Anbar provinces, have poured into the region known as the Triangle of Death, where three U.S. soldiers were captured by al Qaeda. Now the U.S. military may have caught a break. (Bill Roggio @ Fourth Rail)

Meanwhile, Michael Yon has emailed Glenn Reynolds @ Instapundit about the positive changes he’s seeing in Anbar, although he also warns: “Just don’t cut off support too soon, or declare victory too soon. Still lots of work to go and tough days ahead.”

Bush Gets the "Full Nixon" Treatment from Newsweek. (Anchoress)

Little Love For the Departed: Bob Owens parses the reaction to Jerry Falwell’s death in the liberal blogosphere. (Confederate Yankee)

Meanwhile, in the MSM department Ace of Spades has some fun at MSNBC’s expense, for quoting parody site WhiteHouse.org when looking for evidence of Falwell’s influence in the Bush administration. Cory Doctorow @ Boing Boing doesn’t need any parody sites: he quotes the reverend’s own words.

LATER: Christopher Hitchens comes down hard; video and transcript of his CNN appearance @ HotAir.

AND LATER: Jeffrey Goldberg recalls visiting Falwell back in 1999, among other reasons to inquire as to whether since he was an adult Jewish male, that perhaps, he might be the Antichrist. (Slate)

Cigarette Through Coin Trick Revealed

An Open Letter to Mohammed Fadhil, of Iraq The Model, from Lance @ Second Hand Conjecture.

Won't Go: Prince Harry will not be going to Iraq, Sky News reports. The reason: “he is a magnet for jihadists”.

Healthcare in America: Kevin Drum @ Political Animal looks at a comparison of healthcare performance among countries: “Despite the fact that we see doctors less often, go to the hospital less often, and stay in the hospital for shorter times than any of the other countries in the report, we still spend by far the most money. In return for this we get lousier care.” Is it really lousy if it makes Americans go to the hospital less often and stay in the hospital for shorter times? Quite a few of his commenters don’t think so.

Was Osama Right? Islamists always believed the US was weak, and recent developments, and notably the public discourse inside the country, “are persuading increasing numbers of Islamist radicals that their first assessment was correct after all, and that they need only to press a little harder to achieve final victory. It is not yet clear whether they are right or wrong in this view. If they are right, the consequences—both for Islam and for America—will be deep, wide and lasting.” (Bernard Lewis @ OpinionJournal/WSJ)

Gorah’s Ark: “Greenpeace is building it on Mount Ararat. No word on whether Greenpeace got the word straight from God or from the Prophet Gore.” (Jules Crittenden)

Bottoms Up! A new study suggests that moderate drinking may encourage the formation of larger lipoprotein particles in both HDL and LDL, the “bad” cholesterol associated with cardiovascular problems.

Larger particles in HDL, the researchers wrote in the online edition of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, have recently been found to appear better at fighting off heart disease. And larger particles in LDL appear to be less effective at causing it. In that case, the higher the number of large LDL particles, and the lower the number of small ones, the better the chance of avoiding heart disease. (NY Times)

Ten things Google has found to be true:
1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.
2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
Eight more HERE.

Bold Talk From John Bolton: “If the choice is between a nuclear-capable Iran and the use of force, then I think we need to look at the use of force,” the former U.S. ambassador to the UN told the Independent. “If the choice is them continuing [towards a nuclear bomb] or the use of force, I think you’re at a Hitler marching into the Rhineland point. If you don’t stop it then, the future is in his hands, not in your hands.”

Forget Rudy, Hillary, and Obama: What about Blake, Melinda, and Jordin? American Idol heads into the final stretch and EW predicts that Sparks will fly.

Bonne Chance, Sarko! Nicolas Sarkozy, sworn in today as France’s president, called for a “fight against the fear of the future” as Jacques Chirac’s 12-year reign ended. (Bloomberg)

A Joint Before the Joint?

Paris Hilton may have done more to violate her probation than simply drive her car (Daily Mail)

To make matters worse for the tabloid heiress, the Jail Paris Hilton petition has attracted more signatures than the Free Paris Hilton effort launched to keep her out of prison.

Hamas Multi-Tasks: Just because they are battling it out on the streets of Gaza with Fatah (41 killed in the past 4 days) doesn’t mean they don’t have time to lob Kassam rockets into Israel.

They certainly aren’t hurting for money - donations to the Palestinian Authority almost tripled last year as a result of the international boycott of the Hamas government, totalling $900 million, up from $349 million a year earlier.

Check out this Instant Message exchange in real time between a Jerusalem blogger and his citizen journalist friend in Sderot as the Kassams fell.

Debating the Debate -- What the Bloggers Thought:

The biggest Internet buzz inarguably focused on the Giuliani-Paul exchange on 9/11, with compliments to Rudy for showing “pep and fight” and “getting his groove back.”

Hot Air has the video of Giuliani’s magic moment.

“Team Rudy should send a hundred roses to Ron Paul — yellow roses, of course — after the Congressman essentially tossed the debate to Giuliani.” (Captain’s Quarters)

Funniest (and drunkest) liveblogging from Stephen Green: